This past Sunday, the currently incoming House Democratic leader was pressed to answer for past statements questioning the legitimacy of the presidency of Donald Trump.
As he sits in position to take over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as leader next year, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was shown a 2016 slip of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) marking Jeffries as an “election denier” who suggested that Trump was actually a “fake president.”
“It’s unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to focus on me,” stated Jeffries. “House Democrats are going to focus on solving problems for the American people.”
As the host of “This Week” from ABC, George Stephanopoulos brought the issue back to the forefront during an interview this past Sunday, highlighting that Jeffries did not raise doubts about the legitimacy of Trump. He also made sure to put emphasis on the idea that Republicans are making this a “big issue.”
When pressed for a response, Jeffries tried to focus on the “Republican playbook,” which he claimed said, “facts don’t matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior, and in many cases, they believe shamelessness is a superpower.”
He seemed to be making reference to how Trump and his allies made the claim in 2020 that the presidential race against Joe Biden was stolen, though many officials overseeing the elections and the court system have rejected their accusations of far-reaching fraud. This came directly after the 2016 election, in which groups of Democrats questioned Trump’s win, often attempting to nod to alleged Russian election interference.
Jeffries made the claim that his “view of the situation has been pretty clear,” taking strides to try and explain his stance.
“I supported the certification of Donald Trump’s election. I attended his inauguration, even though there were many constituents and others across the country pushing me and others to do otherwise, and found ways to work with the Trump administration, being the lead Democrat in negotiating historic criminal justice reform,” stated Jeffries.
“That track record speaks for itself. At the same time, I will never hesitate in criticizing the former president. I think I’m in good company there throughout the world,” he stated.
Jeffries also openly tried to downplay the odds of Democrats attempting to go after a compromise with Republicans in order to elect the next speaker for the House if Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) does not manage to scrape together the necessary 218 votes by this coming January, as his party will sport a very narrow lead and there are currently a few Republicans expressing vocal opposition to McCarthy’s ascension to the role.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s a possibility,” stated Jeffries. “Right now, Democrats are preparing to get ourselves ready as we transition temporarily from the majority into the minority.”
